AFF 2020 Feature Films

Through the work of Alan Magee, this film examines the ways in which art can address some of the greatest challenges that we face as a society—social injustice and violence, the increasing threats to our democracy, and the urgency of speaking truth to power.

When visionary Jewish immigrant Jacques Bolsey invents the Bolex in the 1920's, he puts the first home movie camera in the hands of everyday folks, fomenting a film revolution that still inspires artists to this day. Nearly a century later, his great-granddaughter Alyssa Bolsey uncovers his long lost archive and journeys to discover the man behind the machine.

Transgender high school athletes from across the country compete at the top of their fields, while also challenging the boundaries and perceptions of fairness and discrimination.

The sage words of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson are lifted off the page and onto the stage in this joyful documentary about six remarkable theater students who compete against thousands in the grueling, high stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition.

H. Alan Scott, a gay former Mormon/converted Jew/cancer survivor/writer-comedian, as he finds his spiritual path and prepares for his Bar Mitzvah at age 34.

When night falls in rural Germany, old VW-caravans decorated with flashy lights line the country roads which lead through potato fields and dark forests. Inside theses buses prostitutes from Eastern Europe and Africa await their clients who are passing by.

Tracy Edwards stunned the world in 1989 when the 26-year-old sailor set a record skippering the first all-female crew on her yacht “Maiden” to a second-place finish in the Whitbread Round the World Race…

Maurice Hines, a charming, gay African-American entertainer navigates the complications of show business while grieving the loss of his more famous, often estranged younger brother, tap dance legend Gregory Hines.

The story of Vivian Liberto, Johnny Cash's first wife and the mother of his four daughters.

On the front lines of Africa's poaching and extinction crisis with local people determined to protect threatened wildlife for future generations.

A Czech artist befriends the thief who stole two of her prized creations in this stranger-than-fiction story about empathy and new beginnings.

The dangerous, volatile world of Chicago’s South Side from the perspective of two remarkably gifted young boxers and the fathers who train them; as one begins a rising career in the ring, the other serves an eight-year-prison sentence for criminal trespass and burglary.

When Hallie Twomey loses her young son, a veteran, to suicide, she channels her grief into relentless passion with a digital plea to grant him a final journey that ignites a firestorm of CJ celebrations around the world.

In 1991 a group of countercultural visionaries built an enormous replica of earth’s ecosystem called Biosphere 2. When eight “biospherians” lived sealed inside, they faced ecological calamities and cult accusations. Their epic adventure is a cautionary tale but also a testament to the power of small groups reimagining the world.

This documentary uncovers the truth behind plastic pollution and the false solution of plastic recycling. It also introduces the heroes and the villains behind one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues.

Football and feminism collide in this documentary that follows former NFL cheerleaders battling the league to end wage theft and illegal employment practices that have persisted for 50 years.

A deep look into the crisis of anxiety and mental health in America, especially its crippling impact on kids and families.

A filmmaker with mental illness follows three defendants through a specialized mental health probation program.

The legendary pantomime Marcel Marceau inspires several generations of artists, among them his grandson and family, who cast a new light on his life’s work. As a child, Marceau experiences the execution of his Jewish father by the Nazis, a trauma that motivates him to join the French resistance and spurs his deep conviction in the art of silence.

Mel Brooks, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Carl Reiner are among the diners singing the praises of the Horn & Hardart Automats, the art deco cafeterias whose rich 100-year history is celebrated in this nostalgic and historically illuminating documentary.

In this inspiring documentary, four Zimbabwean refugees find purpose training as sommeliers in South Africa and compete in the World Wine Tasting Championships in France.

For over 85 years, steamship Ste. Claire transported generations of Detroiters to Boblo Island, an amusement park nestled in the waters between the US and Canada. When the vessel comes under threat of ruin, a doctor, psychic and amusement park fanatic unite to save their beloved steamship from the scrapyard.

Chronicles the journeys of broadcasters, educators and filmmakers who believed television could inspire a lifelong love of reading.

A coming-of-golden-age-film about Florida's most dedicated dance team for women over 60 - the Calendar Girls. A film that is shaking up the outdated image of "the little old lady', and a calling for everyone to dance their hearts out, while they still can.

When international sport governing bodies rule that "identified" female athletes must medically alter their bodies, four champion runners fight back against racism, policing of women's bodies, and the violation of their human rights.

In today's highly charged world of structure, stranger danger, and helicopter parenting, free play in childhood has disappeared, giving way to unprecedented anxiety and depression.

After discovering an archive detailing the horrifying journey of his grandfather as an American POW during World War II, a young man from Wyoming sets out to retrace his footsteps across Germany on bicycle in an effort to understand the most influential person in his life.

Anyone Who Had a Heart, Do You Know the Way to San Jose, Walk on By, and Alfie are all pop songs that instantly conjure up the familiar melodic voice of Dionne Warwick.

A continent-crossing hero’s journey story told through country music. The documentary intimately chronicles the remarkable ride of cousins Gazi “Dusty” Simelane and Linda “Stones” Msibi, a determined duo of struggling country singers from the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland (now known as Eswatini) who long for their big break.

Indigenous women unite to stop the oil pipeline that threatens their land, water, and very existence.

An American family becomes entangled in a bizarre web of secrets and lies when their hacker son is targeted by the U.S. government, making them all ENEMIES OF THE STATE.

This collection of short films address ongoing water issues in our region, from pollution to fish conservation to sustainability.

Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded.

This documentary exposes the high cost of cheap fish and the forces threatening local fishing communities and public health by revealing how consumer demand drives the global seafood economy. Do you know where your seafood is from?

In this three-year race against time, Tim Carey, a talented, yet unknown L.A. artist, is commissioned to create the largest stained-glass window of its kind.

To commemorate the 75th Anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, a dedicated group of pilots and mechanics, civilians and veterans, and boomers and millennials come together to restore 15 original WW II planes for an epic 4000-mile re-creation journey across the North Atlantic Ocean from the U.S. to Normandy.

Fashion revolutionary Bethann Hardison looks back on her journey as a pioneering Black model, modeling agent, and activist, shining a light on an untold chapter in the fight for racial diversity

Judy Blume and the generations of readers who have sparked to her work. It will examine her impact on pop culture and the occasional controversies over her frankness about puberty and sex.

When Kenny Scharf arrived in NYC in the early 1980’s, he quickly met and befriended Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat; There, amongst the fervent creative bustle of a depressed downtown scene, the trio would soon change the way we think about art, the world, and ourselves.

Hayden Pedigo, a 24-year old experimental musician, makes an unlikely run for city council in Amarillo, Texas after his spoof campaign video went viral.

A cinematic journey through the past, present and future of Appalachia, KING COAL documents coal’s cultural influence on identity, while telling a magically real tale of a girl who glimpses into a future beyond coal, observing the pain and beauty of a community on the brink of change.

Three young Cuban baseball players leave their families and risk exile to train in Central America and chase their dreams of playing in the Major Leagues.

Four women immigration attorneys endure a four-year odyssey as the U.S. Government under President Trump upends every law to protect those fleeing from violence and war.

This urgently important documentary follows four children through their experience of learning about the Holocaust in a German state school.

From the Black queer origins of rock n’ roll to the whitewashed canon of American pop music, this explosive documentary reveals the true innovator – the originator – Richard Penniman.

Did you know there are more than 32,000 mothers in America, many from conservative, Christian backgrounds, who fully accept their LGBTQ+ children? They call themselves “mama bears” because while their love is warm and fuzzy, they fight ferociously to make the world kinder and safer for all LGBTQ+ people.

Buddy Melges won Olympic medals and World Championships. But sailing's biggest prize alluded him, The America's Cup.

Isabel Castro wanted her debut feature about the immigrant experience to reflect a full range of emotions, especially the joy of finding freedom and meaning.

Misha and the Wolves is the dramatic tale of a woman whose holocaust memoir took the world by storm, but a fallout with her publisher - who turned detective - revealed an audacious deception created to hide a darker truth.

Two families search for their loved ones who went missing in the fields of Brooks County, Texas, and find a haunted land with more questions than answers.

Dorothy Foreman Cotton was a bold and highly effective civil rights leader, who educated thousands about their citizenship rights and inspired generations of activists with her powerful freedom songs.

After years of addiction and coming to terms with his accident, André Kajlich finds meaning in endurance sports and qualifies for the Race Across America, a sleep deprived, 12day, 3,082mile cycling race that spits out 50% of its competitors. André aims to be the first double amputee to complete it.

An intimate, inspiring look at activist and loving father Ady Barkan, diagnosed with ALS at age 32 and who, in spite of declining physical abilities, embarks on a nationwide campaign for healthcare reform.

Chronicles the monumental task of curing cancer, as seen through the harrowing experiences of one young girl, her family, and a doctor on a mission.

Explores the rise and history of LGBTQ+ professional wrestlers and representation in the sport.

Can 3D printed houses solve the global housing crisis? Tech entrepreneurs test the limits of this new construction method as families' futures hang in the balance.

A sailing race set in one of the most complex waterways in the world, many will succumb against winds, currents, whirlpools, fear and fatigue as both character and watercraft are tested.

When a child can’t read, their chances of incarceration, homelessness, and unemployment increase. That's why Oakland-based NAACP activist Kareem Weaver believes literacy is one of the greatest civil rights issues of our time.

Edward "Nardie" White devoted his life to leading the African-American drum corps he co-founded with Zambia Nkrumah in Louisville, Kentucky three decades ago.

Hollywood producer Monica Levinson (AFF18 opening night film Beirut) presents an intimate look at a typical Jewish-American family, with their values conveyed through interviews.

A snippet of 16mm film offers an emotionally charged, meditative glimpse into the lives of the unsuspecting Jewish citizens of a small Polish village at the precipice of World War II.

This documentary digs into the resurgence of vinyl records, the diversification of vinyl fans and what this all means for America today.

A former Vietnam infantry soldier decides to celebrate his 70th birthday by walking across New York State to help other survivors of PTSD, while confronting his own dark past.

With unprecedented access, this chilling documentary about the rise of far-right nationalism focuses on the lives of three of its main proponents.

This documentary follows the stories of the women police officers in Minneapolis who try to reform the department and restore trust in the community after a high-profile police shooting forces its first female chief to resign.

A diverse group of middle-school students go on the journey of a lifetime when they compete in a nationwide competition to code satellites aboard the International Space Station.